Name: Team Edward Team Members: Annika Wreder, Nicola Ferretti, Nick Brayer, Teresa Logue, Ben Berman III. TEAM ORGANIZATION (Below are sample titles you guys can have, but you can choose somewhat different ones)
Co-Team Coordinator: Teresa Co-Team Coordinator: Annika Head Researcher: Nick Head of Construction: Nicola Draft Editor: Ben
Hey, everyone! So I concatenated (CompSci term) all of the sections below into a googledos document so that we have a rough draft to turn in during class on 10/26. I also did a little editing to ensure that everything in our proposal agreed with what we talked to Mr. Natland about today after school (the whole setup, basically). Tomorrow, I plan on modifying B and C of Section 1 using the discussion of capillary action that Ben and I worked on today. But other than that, everything is finished. If you have time to edit / make changes, here's the URL: https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1FyuDvph5IgH7FzWFcg0NyF8tm7EkCUIEyYhjFjlIs8M&hl=en - Teresa
This is an excellent way to collaborate on a document! Nice work, guys.
Ideas:
1. Blow up a balloon under standard gravity and pressure conditions, put it in the drop tower, and see to what extent its shape changes in microgravity. Ideally, the balloon would become perfectly spherical.
Concerns about this experiment: we think it's possible that the process of inflating a normal rubber (?) balloon will stretch and pull parts of the material and damage it to the extent that it wouldn't be able to form a sphere in microgravity. This might compromise the experiment.
So, if we followed through with this idea, we'd probably want to find a special balloon.
Further on the concept: The inertial reference frame would have to be the air rather than just the chamber. I get the feeling that, because a helium balloon would rise, just because the box it's in is dropping, that doesn't mean that the balloon itself would experience microgravity.
In other words, why WOULDN'T there be differing pressures? The air is still attracted to and has a force towards the ground. The air at the top has more potential energy than at the bottom.
Tell me more about this one...I think that this might be a bit too simple of a test, but it could be good. Is there some way you could turn this example up a notch? This one could be enough though....lets talk about this some more.
2. Test to what extent microgravity affects ion transport proteins / membrane potential in cells. I saw a paper that said tested something similar, and I thought this was pretty interesting.
Concerns about this experiment: transporting cells. Also, the device(s) required to test this have to be placed at a very specific location relative to the cell membrane, and going through the drop tower might shift them, which would throw off their readings.
List where you guys found the paper under resources. I am having trouble seeing what you would test here, how you would test it, and whether you guys would be able to get results in 2.2 seconds. Your thoughts?
3. Run the classic diet coke & mentos experiment in microgravity.
This could be an interesting choice, but what would you expect to happen? How would you expect it would change in microgravity? There is some dispute over why this happens (I believe) which makes this a difficult and simultaneously intriguing example. I think that the fact that it was done here is not a problem because the way you guys would likely test this would be very different. You would probably have to set up a device to project the mentos into the diet coke bottle...unless you have another idea.
4. Test how gravity affects electricity, and sparks or lightning bots (as those generated by a tesla coil). This could be tested by simply turning on a tesla coil in the experiment case and allowing it to drop in freefall, and identifying any changes in how the bolts look. As electrons do have mass, and all mass is affected by gravity, it could be possible to see a change in the shape or direction of the bolts. You guys need to get much more specific with this. You need to be at a place where you have a working hypothesis very soon. How specifically could you test this? This will come (in some cases largely) from research.
5. Something involving capillary action / surface tension / cohesion.
Test the capillary action of different temperature fluids. How high does hot water rise compared to cold water? Something like that? You guys need to get much more specific with this. You need to be at a place where you have a working hypothesis very soon. How specifically could you test this? This will come (in some cases largely) from research.
I think somewhere in the write-up we should put an explanation of why we expect capillary action to decrease with increased temperature - this will probably go under "background" before / around when we state our hypothesis. - Teresa
Capillary action happens when "adhesion of water to the walls of a vessel will cause an upward force on the liquid at the edges and result in a meniscus which turns upward. The surface tension acts to hold the surface intact, so instead of just the edges moving upward, the whole liquid surface is dragged upward." (Source below). Surface tension happens between the molecules of the liquid (cohesive forces), while adhesion happens between the molecules of the liquid and their container. Because capillary action is a combination of surface tension and adhesion, we speculate that changes in surface tension and changes in adhesion (to the same effect) will result in a change in capillary action. Specifically, we think that an increase in temperature will cause a decrease in surface tension and a decrease in adhesion, resulting in a decrease in the capillary effect.
Surface tension decreases with increases in temperature because as temperature rises, the water molecules become more excited and so, we speculate, it's harder for them to form a cohesive bond. When this happens, the meniscus formed will be weaker and the cohesive forces between the water molecules won't be a strong. The water molecules won't be able to move up as quickly, because they won't stick together, and we speculate the capillary effect will decrease.
We speculate that the force of adhesion will decrease as temperature increases because the water molecules will become more excited with an increase in temperature, and it will be harder for the water molecules to stick to the molecules on the surface of the tube because of their increase in excitement. As a result, we speculate that the water molecules won't be able to move up the surface of the tube as quickly.
Why vegetable oil? Why water? How does capillary action affect each? Both water and vegetable oil form concave meniscuses when placed in containers under normal temperature and pressure conditions. Capillary action acts on concave meniscuses to pull the liquid up the sides of the container (see adhesion explanation), which significantly increases the contact area between the liquid and the container. (Wikipedia). We choose vegetable oil and water because the demonstrate similar capillary effects on earth, but have different viscocity.
Will pressure be significant in our experiment? Not really. The fluid with the higher temp would have had a greater volume before 0g due to pressure, but because of the way we'll set up the experiment with the basin and everything, we'll undo any significant pressure effect. What will be significant is the intermolecular motion.
BEN, HERE ARE SOME QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: (-Teresa)
How does viscocity affect surface tension, adhesion, and the capillary effect?
How does internal pressure in liquid affect surface tension, adhesion, capillary effect? Discuss intermolecular motion.
How does the fluid look in the middle? (meniscus, etc.)
Notes: - Adhesive and cohesive forces--- if adhesive are stronger than cohesive, capillary action will occur. - With adhesive forces, the liquid spreads across the surface as much as possible, causing a concave meniscus when placed in a tube which can be easily seen through capillary action. Cohesive forces cause the liquid to try and pull in on itself to avoid the surface, which is responsible for convex menisci,such as seen with mercury when placed in a glass test tube or capillary tube. - To increase capillary action: Increase temperature or decrease capillary tube diameter or perform any number of actions to decrease surface tension - To decrease capillary action: the opposite of the steps Sections I-III are limited to a total of 1500 words. I. SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES
A. Describe briefly and clearly the research question you hope to answer. (Annika)
We plan to investigate the difference in height reached by hot water/vegetable oil versus cold water/vegetable oil in capillary flow in microgravity. We hope to answer the question: does temperature of a liquid (water, vegetable oil) affect the height reached in capillary flow in microgravity?
good.
B. Describe how you expect your proposed experiment to be changed by microgravity. (Annika - this is now Nick)
We believe that the height of the liquid in the capillaries will continuously rise as there is no gravity to hold it down. Without gravity, there are only intermolecular forces which cause the liquid to move up the capillary.
This is to be expected, though (we have seen other videos showing just this). How do you expect temperature to affect the height of the fluid? Should it be higher with a greater temperature or lower? Why? Also, why then should the fluid reach a max height in the absense of gravity?
(Nick)
A liquid's tendency to move from one area to another is referred to as water potential. Water potential is defined as Ψ = Ψ0 + Ψπ + Ψp + Ψs + Ψv + Ψmor reference correction + solute potential + pressure component + gravimetric component + potential due to humidity + potential due to matrix effects. Reference effect makes no difference because the same correction would be made for each fluid. Solute potential is negligible because the solutions are the same. The gravimetric component is nonexistent because it is a micro-gravity situation. Humidity makes no difference because the experiments will be set up in the same humidity. Therefore the only things that affect the experiment are pressure and matrix effects. The pressure will be greater in the fluid with the higher temperature because it will have a higher average velocity. The matrix component is made up of adhesive intermolecular forces and surface tension. Since both fluids are the same, AIF will be the same. Surface tension can be defined as joules per sq meter. Hence the hotter liquid will have higher surface tension. The hotter liquid will have a higher pressure and surface tension so it will have a higher water potential. Because of this the hotter liquid will travel to a higher height. The fluid will reach a max height in the absence of gravity because there is no component that would lessen the water potential of the fluid.
C. Include a hypothesis that can be tested in 2.2 seconds of microgravity. (Nicola)
* Capillary action may be more distinct for water than it is for vegetable oil as the two fluids rise in tubes under microgravity conditions. Furthermore, capillary action may be more definitive for hotter fluids than it is for colder fluids, or fluids closer to room temperature.
* Under microgravity conditions, water will rise higher than vegetable oil, and hot fluids will rise higher than colder fluids in tubes because of the decreased resistance to capillary action. Why would there be more resistance to capillary action in microgravity?
(capillary action is affected by liquid-air surface tension, contact angle, density of the liquid, acceleration due to gravity, and diameter of the tube. how we believe capillary action will be affected under microgravity conditions is written above. the extent of the amplification of its effects has yet to be hypothesized / determined)
This seems pretty good. Lets get these into a more if/then type of format. Question: Do one of your resources below go against your hypothesis?
Because there's effectively 0 gravity, the maximum height would be (practically) infinite providing for sufficient liquid reserves beneath the capillary. This is necessary because we would then be monitoring the speed of the height moving upwards rather than just the height of the liquid.
This is useful because, if we were just to measure the height, a greater temperature would create volumetric expansion, which would not show (necessarily) whether the capillary action has increased (or decreased).
D. Describe the procedures that will be used to observe, measure and interpret the results (this one will take alot if thought) (Ben)
Using infrared thermometers, we will measure the temperature of each different test group (being the different liquids in each capillary tube) to make sure they remain consistent/compare it to the change in movement from the capillary action. The tubes themselves will be labeled for upward displacement, while the camera will be able to note the displacement over time, or the movement, of the capillary action. Further, merely seeing as each tube might be at different heights, we can compare the difference in ending heights with their conditions (in terms of vegetable oil/water and temperature differences). That is to say, because we have the camera, we can see that, say, the hotter vegetable oil rose to a higher point than did the cooler vegetable oil.
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E. Describe the purpose and potential benefits from this experiment and address some possible practical applications of the work. (Teresa)
Life is rife with examples of capillary action at work - from the flow of water from a plant's roots up to it's tissue to the drainage of teardrops from the eye - because capillary action is key to the movement of fluids in many organisms. Further understanding how capillary action works will help us further understand the movement of fluids in general, and will have practical applications for many fields of science.
Currently, capillary action is being studied for its implications in renewable energy. It's been hypothesized that capillary action could help make electricity in a sort of setup where water "climbed" through capillaries to the top of a structure, evaporated at the top, formed condensation, and then fell down on a turbine ("a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work") to create energy. If such a setup was utilized, it would be important to know whether temperature has a significant / interesting effect on capillary action, which is what our experiment tests. People have been attempting to build capillary action engines, too - with little recorded success - but knowledge of how temperature effects capillary action might prove interesting for those experiments.
This is very good stuff. Nice job, Teresa. I think you guys could take this section one step further and say how you think temperature effects might make a bit of a difference here.
Adding to Teresa's discussion of capillary action being used in energy. (Nick)
If temperature is found to make a difference, then that would the ideal conditions for this new energy process. Say higher temperatures cause water to move higher, then the higher the temperature the more liquid can be move to a given point. Also, if higher temp makes a different that would affect the temperature change needed post capillary action for the water to evaporate. The temperature could be used to find the most cost efficient, productive way for a new source of energy.
Remeber this needs to be done BY Monday Morning! Also, work as a team to tweak PART I II. Technical Plan Hey, guys, the blue is stuff I added to this section to make our proposal fit with what we talked about with Natland after school today (4 graduated cylinders, 4 basins, etc.) Let me know if you agree with that I've added. - Teresa
MATERIALS LIST
4 plastic graduated cylinders
4 infared thermometers / digital thermometers
4 basins for the different liquids
Water
Vegetable oil
Hot plate
... and more!
(Nick)
The same size thermometer needs to be used so that volumes are not altered. The bins should be clear so that we can see and changes that occur immediately. The cylinders need to be secured so that they don't tip over upon hitting the ground. We either need some sort of insulation to keep the temps at the desired levels or compensate by cooling or heating the liquids a little extra. The radius and heights of the graduated cylinders need to be wide and high enough so that the liquid does not escape the cylinder while experiencing micro-gravity.
A. Give a clear, detailed description of the experimental apparatus to be used and any hardware to be built. At least one figure or diagram of the experimental must be included in section V of your proposal (the Figures section) (Nicola)
You should probably choose tubes that have a diameter that are not too thin, because you want the fluid to reach its potential "max height"
The experimental apparatus will consist of 4 plastic graduated cylinders, each with a digital thermometer placed inside, positioned in 4 different basins of fluid. The fluids will be cold water (20°C), warm water (60°C), cold vegetable oil (20°C), and warm vegetable oil (60°C). The apparatus will be set up according to [insert Nicola's figure name here].
B. Describe the expected sequence of events during the operation of the experiment. Explain how it will answer your research question. (Nick)
1. Set up the experiment (we still have to figure out the whole thing will be configured)
2. We'll make sure to compensate for the temperature change the fluids will experience.
3. The experiment will be set into motion and hopefully we'll notice a difference in height.
4. The change in height during the experiment will determine whether or not there was a difference between the height attained by the fluids.
By comparing the change in height between the two fluids, we will answer our question.
Using the hot plate, heat one beaker of water and one beaker of vegetable oil each to 60°C. Using the refrigerator, chill one beaker of water and one beaker of vegetable oil each to 20°C.
Set up the experiment (according to Figure 2) by placing each of the 4 graduated cylinders in its own basin of liquid (prepared in Step 1).
Place experiment in drop tower.
As the experiment enters microgravity, the capillary effect should begin.
After 2.2 seconds (as the experiment exits microgravity), we will look for a difference in the heights of the liquids.
The differences in height during the experiment will determine whether or not there was a difference in speed for the liquids.
By comparing the differences in speed (if they occur) between the four fluids, we will answer our question.
C. Explain the design features that will allow the experiment to survive the impact and be usable for another drop. (Ben)
We'll probably want to use thick glass that isn't subject to movement (lest the measurements be off). This probably includes most glass that could be used (as opposed to, say, stained glass), but I would say that using plastic wouldn't be good because it is subject to bend slightly.
This really shouldn't be that difficult.
D. Explain how your experiment will provide useful data which can be collected in 2.2 seconds. (Teresa)
When the experiment enters free-fall, capillary action will begin in all tubes (the vegetable oil will begin to rise). At 2.2 seconds, the camera will capture the heights that the liquids reach. After running the experiment, we will examine the video of the drop to determine these heights reached by the vegetable oil in each tube at 2.2 seconds. From these heights, we will be able to estimate the speed of capillary action for each of the tubes. (Because this speed will be total distance traveled / time, and the time for all tubes will be the same). Then, we will be able to compare the differences in temperature for the liquid in each tube to the vegetable oil's speed of capillary action for each tube.
We will look for the degree of difference in height between the tubes of liquid of different temperatures. If all tubes of liquid reach the same (or practically the same) height at 2.2 seconds, we will know that temperature has little to no effect on speed of capillary action. We hope to see a distinct difference in the heights of the liquids in the tubes, however. Specifically, we hope to see that the vegetable oil at the greatest temperature will have a lower height than that at the lowest temperature. If this is the case, we will know that an increase in temperature decreases capillary action.
We'll want to use diameters that will allow for height movements on the order of (if we were to classify the top moving as velocity) 10^-2 m/s. We don't need to be too specific, especially considering that we won't know for certain how quickly the liquids will move. (That's what we'll be experimenting, after all.)
E. Describe ground testing prior to reduced-gravity testing. (Annika)
Prior to reduced-gravity testing we will test the difference in height between hot water and cold water with gravity at sea level. The capillary device will be filled with different temperature water. Half of the tubes will be filled with hot water and the other half will be filled with cold water. Once equilibrium is reached the final height reached by the liquid in the separate tubes will be measured. A picture/video will be taken of the baseline experiment.
F. Be sure the design meets the safety and design requirements in the DIME packet given to you.
Here's a helpful definition of capillary action: "Capillary action is the result of adhesion and surface tension. Adhesion of water to the walls of a vessel will cause an upward force on the liquid at the edges and result in a meniscus which turns upward. The surface tension acts to hold the surface intact, so instead of just the edges moving upward, the whole liquid surface is dragged upward." (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/surten2.html)
Team Members: Annika Wreder, Nicola Ferretti, Nick Brayer, Teresa Logue, Ben Berman
III. TEAM ORGANIZATION
(Below are sample titles you guys can have, but you can choose somewhat different ones)
Co-Team Coordinator: Teresa
Co-Team Coordinator: Annika
Head Researcher: Nick
Head of Construction: Nicola
Draft Editor: Ben
FINAL DOC: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VHzHei1UC6dQnQYznCqwYaw1ECzwIxPoE9ccI4IC2EY/edit?pli=1&hl=en&authkey=CIrX-uIM#
Hi, again, everyone! So I made another googledocs document so that we can work on the finalized proposal for our project. Here's the URL: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WVGN4sjMoQ6SAoOgpSxWWUcXqe9eju1ylMG2Z_Nkv9g/edit?hl=en - Teresa
Hey, everyone! So I concatenated (CompSci term) all of the sections below into a googledos document so that we have a rough draft to turn in during class on 10/26. I also did a little editing to ensure that everything in our proposal agreed with what we talked to Mr. Natland about today after school (the whole setup, basically). Tomorrow, I plan on modifying B and C of Section 1 using the discussion of capillary action that Ben and I worked on today. But other than that, everything is finished. If you have time to edit / make changes, here's the URL: https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1FyuDvph5IgH7FzWFcg0NyF8tm7EkCUIEyYhjFjlIs8M&hl=en
- Teresa
This is an excellent way to collaborate on a document! Nice work, guys.
New pictures withouth hot plate and oil.
BRAINSTORMING
Ideas:
1. Blow up a balloon under standard gravity and pressure conditions, put it in the drop tower, and see to what extent its shape changes in microgravity. Ideally, the balloon would become perfectly spherical.
- Concerns about this experiment: we think it's possible that the process of inflating a normal rubber (?) balloon will stretch and pull parts of the material and damage it to the extent that it wouldn't be able to form a sphere in microgravity. This might compromise the experiment.
- So, if we followed through with this idea, we'd probably want to find a special balloon.
- Further on the concept: The inertial reference frame would have to be the air rather than just the chamber. I get the feeling that, because a helium balloon would rise, just because the box it's in is dropping, that doesn't mean that the balloon itself would experience microgravity.
- In other words, why WOULDN'T there be differing pressures? The air is still attracted to and has a force towards the ground. The air at the top has more potential energy than at the bottom.
Tell me more about this one...I think that this might be a bit too simple of a test, but it could be good. Is there some way you could turn this example up a notch? This one could be enough though....lets talk about this some more.2. Test to what extent microgravity affects ion transport proteins / membrane potential in cells. I saw a paper that said tested something similar, and I thought this was pretty interesting.
- Concerns about this experiment: transporting cells. Also, the device(s) required to test this have to be placed at a very specific location relative to the cell membrane, and going through the drop tower might shift them, which would throw off their readings.
List where you guys found the paper under resources. I am having trouble seeing what you would test here, how you would test it, and whether you guys would be able to get results in 2.2 seconds. Your thoughts?3. Run the classic diet coke & mentos experiment in microgravity.
- Concerns: it's already been done before: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/08/diet_coke_and_mentos_in_z.html
This could be an interesting choice, but what would you expect to happen? How would you expect it would change in microgravity? There is some dispute over why this happens (I believe) which makes this a difficult and simultaneously intriguing example. I think that the fact that it was done here is not a problem because the way you guys would likely test this would be very different. You would probably have to set up a device to project the mentos into the diet coke bottle...unless you have another idea.4. Test how gravity affects electricity, and sparks or lightning bots (as those generated by a tesla coil). This could be tested by simply turning on a tesla coil in the experiment case and allowing it to drop in freefall, and identifying any changes in how the bolts look. As electrons do have mass, and all mass is affected by gravity, it could be possible to see a change in the shape or direction of the bolts.
You guys need to get much more specific with this. You need to be at a place where you have a working hypothesis very soon. How specifically could you test this? This will come (in some cases largely) from research.
5. Something involving capillary action / surface tension / cohesion.
Test the capillary action of different temperature fluids. How high does hot water rise compared to cold water? Something like that?
You guys need to get much more specific with this. You need to be at a place where you have a working hypothesis very soon. How specifically could you test this? This will come (in some cases largely) from research.
http://www.youtube.com/user/dime10nasa#p/u/0/XXsf9LggIuA (capillary action, DIME)
Here is a video showing capillary action from a past DIME experiment.
I think somewhere in the write-up we should put an explanation of why we expect capillary action to decrease with increased temperature - this will probably go under "background" before / around when we state our hypothesis. - Teresa
Capillary action happens when "adhesion of water to the walls of a vessel will cause an upward force on the liquid at the edges and result in a meniscus which turns upward. The surface tension acts to hold the surface intact, so instead of just the edges moving upward, the whole liquid surface is dragged upward." (Source below). Surface tension happens between the molecules of the liquid (cohesive forces), while adhesion happens between the molecules of the liquid and their container. Because capillary action is a combination of surface tension and adhesion, we speculate that changes in surface tension and changes in adhesion (to the same effect) will result in a change in capillary action. Specifically, we think that an increase in temperature will cause a decrease in surface tension and a decrease in adhesion, resulting in a decrease in the capillary effect.
Surface tension decreases with increases in temperature because as temperature rises, the water molecules become more excited and so, we speculate, it's harder for them to form a cohesive bond. When this happens, the meniscus formed will be weaker and the cohesive forces between the water molecules won't be a strong. The water molecules won't be able to move up as quickly, because they won't stick together, and we speculate the capillary effect will decrease.
We speculate that the force of adhesion will decrease as temperature increases because the water molecules will become more excited with an increase in temperature, and it will be harder for the water molecules to stick to the molecules on the surface of the tube because of their increase in excitement. As a result, we speculate that the water molecules won't be able to move up the surface of the tube as quickly.
Why vegetable oil? Why water? How does capillary action affect each? Both water and vegetable oil form concave meniscuses when placed in containers under normal temperature and pressure conditions. Capillary action acts on concave meniscuses to pull the liquid up the sides of the container (see adhesion explanation), which significantly increases the contact area between the liquid and the container. (Wikipedia). We choose vegetable oil and water because the demonstrate similar capillary effects on earth, but have different viscocity.
Will pressure be significant in our experiment? Not really. The fluid with the higher temp would have had a greater volume before 0g due to pressure, but because of the way we'll set up the experiment with the basin and everything, we'll undo any significant pressure effect. What will be significant is the intermolecular motion.
BEN, HERE ARE SOME QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: (-Teresa)
Notes:
- Adhesive and cohesive forces--- if adhesive are stronger than cohesive, capillary action will occur.
- With adhesive forces, the liquid spreads across the surface as much as possible, causing a concave meniscus when placed in a tube which can be easily seen through capillary action. Cohesive forces cause the liquid to try and pull in on itself to avoid the surface, which is responsible for convex menisci,such as seen with mercury when placed in a glass test tube or capillary tube.
- To increase capillary action: Increase temperature or decrease capillary tube diameter or perform any number of actions to decrease surface tension
- To decrease capillary action: the opposite of the steps
Sections I-III are limited to a total of 1500 words.
I. SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES
A. Describe briefly and clearly the research question you hope to answer. (Annika)
We plan to investigate the difference in height reached by hot water/vegetable oil versus cold water/vegetable oil in capillary flow in microgravity. We hope to answer the question: does temperature of a liquid (water, vegetable oil) affect the height reached in capillary flow in microgravity?
good.
B. Describe how you expect your proposed experiment to be changed by microgravity. (Annika - this is now Nick)
We believe that the height of the liquid in the capillaries will continuously rise as there is no gravity to hold it down. Without gravity, there are only intermolecular forces which cause the liquid to move up the capillary.
This is to be expected, though (we have seen other videos showing just this). How do you expect temperature to affect the height of the fluid? Should it be higher with a greater temperature or lower? Why? Also, why then should the fluid reach a max height in the absense of gravity?
(Nick)
A liquid's tendency to move from one area to another is referred to as water potential. Water potential is defined as Ψ = Ψ0 + Ψπ + Ψp + Ψs + Ψv + Ψm or reference correction + solute potential + pressure component + gravimetric component + potential due to humidity + potential due to matrix effects. Reference effect makes no difference because the same correction would be made for each fluid. Solute potential is negligible because the solutions are the same. The gravimetric component is nonexistent because it is a micro-gravity situation. Humidity makes no difference because the experiments will be set up in the same humidity. Therefore the only things that affect the experiment are pressure and matrix effects. The pressure will be greater in the fluid with the higher temperature because it will have a higher average velocity. The matrix component is made up of adhesive intermolecular forces and surface tension. Since both fluids are the same, AIF will be the same. Surface tension can be defined as joules per sq meter. Hence the hotter liquid will have higher surface tension. The hotter liquid will have a higher pressure and surface tension so it will have a higher water potential. Because of this the hotter liquid will travel to a higher height. The fluid will reach a max height in the absence of gravity because there is no component that would lessen the water potential of the fluid.
C. Include a hypothesis that can be tested in 2.2 seconds of microgravity. (Nicola)
* Capillary action may be more distinct for water than it is for vegetable oil as the two fluids rise in tubes under microgravity conditions. Furthermore, capillary action may be more definitive for hotter fluids than it is for colder fluids, or fluids closer to room temperature.
* Under microgravity conditions, water will rise higher than vegetable oil, and hot fluids will rise higher than colder fluids in tubes because of the decreased resistance to capillary action. Why would there be more resistance to capillary action in microgravity?
(capillary action is affected by liquid-air surface tension, contact angle, density of the liquid, acceleration due to gravity, and diameter of the tube. how we believe capillary action will be affected under microgravity conditions is written above. the extent of the amplification of its effects has yet to be hypothesized / determined)
This seems pretty good. Lets get these into a more if/then type of format. Question: Do one of your resources below go against your hypothesis?
Because there's effectively 0 gravity, the maximum height would be (practically) infinite providing for sufficient liquid reserves beneath the capillary. This is necessary because we would then be monitoring the speed of the height moving upwards rather than just the height of the liquid.
This is useful because, if we were just to measure the height, a greater temperature would create volumetric expansion, which would not show (necessarily) whether the capillary action has increased (or decreased).
D. Describe the procedures that will be used to observe, measure and interpret the results (this one will take alot if thought) (Ben)
Using infrared thermometers, we will measure the temperature of each different test group (being the different liquids in each capillary tube) to make sure they remain consistent/compare it to the change in movement from the capillary action. The tubes themselves will be labeled for upward displacement, while the camera will be able to note the displacement over time, or the movement, of the capillary action. Further, merely seeing as each tube might be at different heights, we can compare the difference in ending heights with their conditions (in terms of vegetable oil/water and temperature differences). That is to say, because we have the camera, we can see that, say, the hotter vegetable oil rose to a higher point than did the cooler vegetable oil.
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This section is no longer empty. Your argument is invalid.
E. Describe the purpose and potential benefits from this experiment and address some possible practical applications of the work. (Teresa)
This is very good stuff. Nice job, Teresa. I think you guys could take this section one step further and say how you think temperature effects might make a bit of a difference here.
Adding to Teresa's discussion of capillary action being used in energy. (Nick)
If temperature is found to make a difference, then that would the ideal conditions for this new energy process. Say higher temperatures cause water to move higher, then the higher the temperature the more liquid can be move to a given point. Also, if higher temp makes a different that would affect the temperature change needed post capillary action for the water to evaporate. The temperature could be used to find the most cost efficient, productive way for a new source of energy.
Remeber this needs to be done BY Monday Morning! Also, work as a team to tweak PART I
II. Technical Plan
Hey, guys, the blue is stuff I added to this section to make our proposal fit with what we talked about with Natland after school today (4 graduated cylinders, 4 basins, etc.) Let me know if you agree with that I've added. - Teresa
MATERIALS LIST
(Nick)
The same size thermometer needs to be used so that volumes are not altered. The bins should be clear so that we can see and changes that occur immediately. The cylinders need to be secured so that they don't tip over upon hitting the ground. We either need some sort of insulation to keep the temps at the desired levels or compensate by cooling or heating the liquids a little extra. The radius and heights of the graduated cylinders need to be wide and high enough so that the liquid does not escape the cylinder while experiencing micro-gravity.
A. Give a clear, detailed description of the experimental apparatus to be used and any hardware to be built. At least one figure or diagram of the experimental must be included in section V of your proposal (the Figures section) (Nicola)
You should probably choose tubes that have a diameter that are not too thin, because you want the fluid to reach its potential "max height"
The experimental apparatus will consist of 4 plastic graduated cylinders, each with a digital thermometer placed inside, positioned in 4 different basins of fluid. The fluids will be cold water (20°C), warm water (60°C), cold vegetable oil (20°C), and warm vegetable oil (60°C). The apparatus will be set up according to [insert Nicola's figure name here].
B. Describe the expected sequence of events during the operation of the experiment. Explain how it will answer your research question. (Nick)
1. Set up the experiment (we still have to figure out the whole thing will be configured)
2. We'll make sure to compensate for the temperature change the fluids will experience.
3. The experiment will be set into motion and hopefully we'll notice a difference in height.
4. The change in height during the experiment will determine whether or not there was a difference between the height attained by the fluids.
By comparing the change in height between the two fluids, we will answer our question.
C. Explain the design features that will allow the experiment to survive the impact and be usable for another drop. (Ben)
We'll probably want to use thick glass that isn't subject to movement (lest the measurements be off). This probably includes most glass that could be used (as opposed to, say, stained glass), but I would say that using plastic wouldn't be good because it is subject to bend slightly.
This really shouldn't be that difficult.
D. Explain how your experiment will provide useful data which can be collected in 2.2 seconds. (Teresa)
When the experiment enters free-fall, capillary action will begin in all tubes (the vegetable oil will begin to rise). At 2.2 seconds, the camera will capture the heights that the liquids reach. After running the experiment, we will examine the video of the drop to determine these heights reached by the vegetable oil in each tube at 2.2 seconds. From these heights, we will be able to estimate the speed of capillary action for each of the tubes. (Because this speed will be total distance traveled / time, and the time for all tubes will be the same). Then, we will be able to compare the differences in temperature for the liquid in each tube to the vegetable oil's speed of capillary action for each tube.
We will look for the degree of difference in height between the tubes of liquid of different temperatures. If all tubes of liquid reach the same (or practically the same) height at 2.2 seconds, we will know that temperature has little to no effect on speed of capillary action. We hope to see a distinct difference in the heights of the liquids in the tubes, however. Specifically, we hope to see that the vegetable oil at the greatest temperature will have a lower height than that at the lowest temperature. If this is the case, we will know that an increase in temperature decreases capillary action.
We'll want to use diameters that will allow for height movements on the order of (if we were to classify the top moving as velocity) 10^-2 m/s. We don't need to be too specific, especially considering that we won't know for certain how quickly the liquids will move. (That's what we'll be experimenting, after all.)
E. Describe ground testing prior to reduced-gravity testing. (Annika)
Prior to reduced-gravity testing we will test the difference in height between hot water and cold water with gravity at sea level. The capillary device will be filled with different temperature water. Half of the tubes will be filled with hot water and the other half will be filled with cold water. Once equilibrium is reached the final height reached by the liquid in the separate tubes will be measured. A picture/video will be taken of the baseline experiment.
F. Be sure the design meets the safety and design requirements in the DIME packet given to you.
Okay.
RESOURCES:
Make sure to get some of your resources down here!
Capillary Effect- http://science.jrank.org/pages/1182/Capillary-Action.html
- E.g. how does the mento/diet coke experiment work? Why not regular coke? etc.
- what kinds of controlled combustion exp. could you perform?**
Link to youtube video of effects of a tesla coil in regular gravity conditions:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOyQYNEoGFo
Possible effects on electricity in microgravity: http://www.thinkypedia.com/question/56960/
For I, E: This site makes the statement "Capillary action decreases with an increase in temperature" http://www.engineeringcivil.com/capillary-action.html ; info on capillary action engines: http://www.examiner.com/breakthrough-energy-in-national/are-capillary-action-engines-possible
Here's a helpful definition of capillary action: "Capillary action is the result of adhesion and surface tension. Adhesion of water to the walls of a vessel will cause an upward force on the liquid at the edges and result in a meniscus which turns upward. The surface tension acts to hold the surface intact, so instead of just the edges moving upward, the whole liquid surface is dragged upward." (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/surten2.html)
Capillary Action:
http://science.jrank.org/pages/1182/Capillary-Action.html
http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Physical_Chemistry/Physical_Properties_of_Matter/Intermolecular_Forces/Cohesive_And_Adhesive_Forces/Capillary_Action
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Capillary_action
http://www.mikeblaber.org/oldwine/chm1045/notes/Forces/Liquids/Forces03.htm
http://www.engineersedge.com/fluid_flow/fluid_data.htm